Hostages 'escape Algeria captors'

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

Well if the hostages all die after they try a traditional style military assault rather than a more precise assault in the manner of the SAS in 1980 or the GSG-9 in 1977 those people may not have all died.

Just because they have hostage incidents in the past means nothing the out come of those may also have gone poorly in many cases.


Show me where they have the "expertise" if you don't mind in managing to rescue hostages with success.

More than likely their government has a "too bad" policy when it comes to these things."Too bad you got taken hostage we do not negotiate we just waste them maybe you'll
survive maybe we'll just shoot you and blame the terrorists." That sounds like their "expertise".

Actually the Algerian military has a special force which was formed by example of and got trained by French special forces, Russian Spetsnatz and American SWAT. And do not underestimate the French just because they are "the Frencies". Their counter terror intelligence is amongst the very best in the world, and their special forces are said to be very good - and uncompromised - as well.

The Algerian inner politics still is a labyrinth of interests and claims for power, and the conflict between the state and religious extremists is still seething on small flame. Possible that some rivalry between political and military figures led to some military leader having taken the initiative and giving order to attack. Possible also that the government still recalls the imminent past of much more openly carried out conflict and thus did not allow to get pulled down into the swamp by endlessly tolerating the situation without trying to gain the initiative and destroying the enemy that it knows so very well.

I do not necessarily agree with the Western dogma that at all costs the hostages go first, because by that you demonstrate that kidnapping and blackmailing pays off and you encourage future acts of this kind. In cases like this, I subscribe to a policy that is quite simple: no negotiations, no compensations, the hostages free and unharmed, and now - or the attackers dead. But no negotiations. It's bitter, and in the individual case it may look inhumane. But to invite even more, even a widening of such acts because one plays soft on the initial case that started it all, to me is even more inhumane for over time it multiplies the number of victims, and the costs.